


Finish Kissing Death

by ShowMeAHero



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Death, Gen, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Major Character Injury, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 04:15:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2053206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky knew he had a few options. He could tell Steve the truth, tell him how awful it looked and how he knew he was going to die. Because he was. Super-soldier or not, Steve was not immortal. He was still a human man, and he could die. And he was going to die. Bucky could bluff his way through it, try to save him, even though he knew it wouldn’t work. He would just be prolonging the inevitable. Or, he could lie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finish Kissing Death

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by [Sarah (sarandco on tumblr)](http://sarandco.tumblr.com/post/91712418741/cap-3-spoilers) and her [comic right here.](http://sarandco.tumblr.com/post/91712418741/cap-3-spoilers)
> 
> Title taken from the song "Why Am I The One?" by fun., [which you can listen to here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO6WmM7w93I)
> 
> I based this off of his comic death, but obviously altered some aspects.

It was easy to tell when it happened. All their voices were ringing in Bucky’s ears, but he ripped his earpiece out still. They had been fighting so many people - some were even their own people, brainwashed to fight them. Pietro skidded to a stop next to Bucky and delivered a harsh, deliberate hit to one of the agents’ chests before they could attack Bucky.

“Barnes,” Natasha shouted from somewhere to his left, but Bucky continued anyways, feeling as though blocks of lead were tied to his ankles. He dragged himself forward regardless, and he lifted his gun and pressed the muzzle to Sharon Carter’s temple.

“Take her,” Bucky whispered, his voice cracking halfway through, and Sharon moved to shoot him. With his free hand, he reached out and smacked it away, sending it clattering across the ground. Clint leapt from his perch, swinging down to the ground and landing deftly on his feet. He yanked Sharon’s hands behind her back and handcuffed them together with a pair from his belt. He avoided looking into her blank, brainwashed eyes as he dragged her away. Bucky fell to his knees and pulled Steve’s head into his lap.

“Buck,” Steve began, before he coughed, and Bucky smoothed his hair back and shushed him. Steve turned his head into Bucky’s stomach.

“It’s okay,” Bucky promised. “You’re going to heal. You’re going to be okay.”

“Buck,” Steve started again. “Buck, I’m not-”

“You’re Captain America,” Bucky insisted. Steve grinned, and his teeth were stained red. “Of course you are.”

“I’m gonna die,” Steve assured him. Bucky sobbed once before he shut his eyes and bit his lip, getting himself under control. When he opened his eyes, Steve had turned to the side slightly. Bucky elevated his head a little more, and Steve’s hand twitched towards his chest.

“Where’d she get you?” Bucky asked, stripping off his jacket and ripping it to shreds. Steve groaned and shifted, motioning towards his torso.

“Back three times,” Steve answered, then shut his eyes and exhaled sharply. “Chest once.”

“Oh, shit,” Bucky breathed, using the strength of his metal arm to tear Steve’s costume off of him from the waist-up. He found one entry wound on his chest and one exit wound, all from Sharon’s 9mm Beretta M9. Nothing too messy, but they were steadily drenching Steve’s skin in blood. Bucky ran his fingers through Steve’s sweat-damp hair. “I’m going to have to move you, real quick. I want to check your back. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Steve agreed, gritting his teeth. Bucky shifted, propping Steve up to quickly examine his back. Three entry wounds, no exit wounds. He shut his eyes briefly, trying to stop his hands from shaking as he lowered Steve back down to his lap. “How’s it look?”

Bucky knew he had a few options. He could tell Steve the truth, tell him how awful it looked and how he knew he was going to die. Because he was. Super-soldier or not, Steve was not immortal. He was still a human man, and he could die. And he was going to die. Bucky could bluff his way through it, try to save him, even though he knew it wouldn’t work. He would just be prolonging the inevitable. Or, he could lie.

“It looks fine,” Bucky assured him, dropping his head down to press their foreheads together. He heard the fight dying down around them, Thor protecting them by redirecting anyone who tried to come near. The heavy clanks of Iron Man’s suit came down close by, but Bucky tuned them out. “You’re going to heal up real quick, Steve. I can tell.”

Steve coughed a laugh. The Hulk roared somewhere above their heads, and Wanda fell to Steve and Bucky’s side, her hands ghosting over Steve’s bare skin. She leaned in after a moment, her face white as a sheet.

“There’s nothing I can do,” she murmured in Bucky’s ear. She stood up and inclined her head to Steve in a partial bow before disappearing. Steve strained to look around, and Bucky held him in place.

“You can’t move around too much, bud,” Bucky said softly. Steve’s eyes darted around, searching his peripheral vision. The fight around them seemed to be dying down, and Natasha spared the time to fall down to her knees near to them.

“Hey, Steve,” Natasha greeted, reaching down and slipping her hand into his. She squeezed and offered him a smile. “You won, Captain. Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Steve replied. He weakly squeezed her hand back before returning his attention to Bucky. “Bucky, I can feel it happening.”

“You’re going to be okay,” Bucky repeated, skimming his hand through Steve’s hair over and over again.

“Bucky, I told you,” Steve said, adjusting himself as best as he could, “I can feel it happening. I’m going to die.”

“And I told you, you’re going to be okay,” Bucky reiterated. “I don’t care if you’re dying, Steve. You’re going to be just fine.”

Because that was Bucky’s _job_. It was his job to keep Steve alive, ever since they were kids and he found him getting whaled on in the street. He had always kept Steve safe, as children, as young adults. As soldiers. In this new world, whatever this was characterized as for them. It was his responsibility to keep Steve alive, and he failed. His breath caught for a moment, and Steve smiled up at him a second time.

“You’ve always been a bad liar,” Steve laughed weakly. Bucky swallowed forcefully and didn’t bother making himself smile.

“I love you,” Bucky offered. “I’m here with you, alright?”

“‘Til the end of the line,” Steve replied, coughing again. Red stained around his mouth, dripping down his chin to his neck. Bucky pushed the balled-up strip of fabric in his hand around Steve’s mouth, trying desperately to clean him, for no reason at all but to comfort himself, and maybe Steve. Steve’s eyes darted back and forth between Bucky’s, scanning his face, studying his features. He blinked once, then twice, quickly, and his breathing faded out. His chest stopped moving, and his eyes unfocused, and Bucky sobbed once.

Natasha’s hand fell out of Steve’s, and she moved on light feet around to kneel behind Bucky, rubbing his back with one hand. Bucky dragged Steve up until his body was propped upright, and he hugged him close, wrapping his arms tightly around him. He shook his head and tightened his grip, trying to get Steve as near to him as he possibly could.

“No,” Bucky murmured against Steve’s temple, shaking his head furiously back and forth, burying his face in Steve’s hair. “No!”

“Bucky-” Natasha began, and Bucky wrenched away from her, pulling Steve closer. His eyes were glistening and wet, his face red and cut up. His metal arm was tucked tight against Steve, the both of them drenched in blood.

“But I just got you back,” Bucky whispered. “It’s not fair. I just got you back.”

It’s not fair; this can’t be real life. Bucky had _never_ lived without Steve. He couldn’t even remember his life _before_ Steve. He was there, weaving himself seamlessly into every day of Bucky’s life. The most important part of him, and Bucky had never spent time in this world without Steve. Steve had always been _there_ , alive, somewhere. Within him, when he was the Soldier, and the idea of him kept him alive for so long. And here he was, lifeless in his arms, the death of not only the idea, of the dream, but of the man that had been Bucky’s entire life. Not Captain America; Steve Rogers. That little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb to run away from a fight.

The sound of Iron Man firing a repulsor blast above his head brought him back to himself, and he looked up. Natasha was standing, ready to fight anyone who came near. Iron Man’s face plate moved out of the way, and he knelt down next to Bucky.

“Okay, Barnes,” Tony began, his eyes carefully focused on Bucky’s face, avoiding Steve entirely. Probably to deal with it later. “We’re still fighting this fight. I know this isn’t the time, but we need you.” Tony glanced down at Steve momentarily before swallowing, closing his eyes, and looking back up at Bucky. “When you came back, Steve came to me. He told me that his legacy has to continue. The legacy of Captain America. He told me that if he died, he wanted me to look out for you.”

Bucky frowned, studying Tony’s face through tear-blurred eyes. “What are you saying, Stark?”

“I’m saying…” Tony began, before sighing. He looked down at Steve again. “We don’t have Steve anymore, but we have you, the next best damn thing. We still have Captain America. _You’re_ supposed to be the next Captain America.”

“No, that was him,” Bucky argued, turning his attention back down to Steve’s lifeless face. It looked wrong; Steve had always been so animated. He seemed to be fading away, too, returning to his smaller body in his death. Bucky held him closer. “That’s not me. Captain America. That’s him, that’s not me.”

“He was Captain America, but Captain America wasn’t Steve Rogers,” Tony reminded him. “It’s a title. It’s an idea that he wanted you to embody for him in his absence.”

Bucky stroked Steve’s hair back from his face. “He’s always been Captain America.”

“And he always will be,” Natasha assured him, rubbing her hand over his shoulder blades over and over. “But the world needs Captain America.”

Bucky pulled back slightly to take a better look at Steve’s slack face. He reached up and gently rubbed his thumb across Steve’s cheekbone. After a moment of looking over him, looking to his brilliant blue eyes, he reached up and shut them. A shadow fell over them, then slowly fell away as the Hulk transformed back into Bruce. He fell to his knees at Steve’s feet, his head bowed. Bucky glanced at him, then looked back to Steve. He knew they were right. It hurt. But he knew.

Bucky grabbed the pieces of his and Steve’s uniforms and tied them all together in one long, ragged sheet. He carefully slid out from under Steve and motioned Bruce forward, and Bruce hauled himself over and let Bucky rest Steve against him. Bucky stood to his feet, dragging his own dead weight up with him, and gently placed the makeshift sheet over Steve’s heavy, limp body. After a moment’s consideration, he bent down and lifted Steve’s shield up. He affixed the shield to his own arm and turned back to the fight still going on around them.

“Let’s do this,” Bucky stated firmly, his voice cracking. He cleared his throat and took a hitching breath, then swallowed. “For Steve.”

“For Steve,” Tony agreed, sliding Iron Man’s face plate back down. He took off, and Natasha squeezed Bucky’s free hand.

“For Steve,” she repeated. Bucky watched as she took off, attacking the nearest agent with a gun. He turned back, just for a moment, to look at where Steve was lying dead. He steeled himself. Captain America dove back into the fray.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicoIodeon](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


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